From the GRM Vault: The Fascinating History of Small Bore Trans-Am Racing

This story comes from all the way back in 1989. So we had to march back to our archives, pick out the magazine, and then dig out the scanner.

To zoom in, hold down the CTRL (or Command on a Mac) key and then hit the “+” key.

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I think I attended every Trans-Am race ever held at Lime Rock.

What track is that first picture? I can't place it. The second one is definitely Turn 5 at Road America.

The photo at the very top (not actually in the scanned article) is from Watkins Glen.

Does anyone know where I could find results or a competitor listing or pictures of the cars of the events in 1971 thru maybe 1975? I have a 1972 240z race car that was raced in a Trans Am series right after leaving the show room floor. This Class mentioned in the article seems like the one it may have been in. I believe the first name of the driver was Bill and last name starting with a M. I know very little info.

You can find 1966-72 results here.

Back then, though, you wouldn't have seen a 240Z in Trans-Am--no back seat. What about SCCA C Production or IMSA GT? Post some pics, and maybe we can help.

There's some more Datsun race history info here.

My favorite historic racing is BS/U2 racing. And it helps that one of the dominant marques was Alfa Romeo.

(which reminds me- I have a BS race car for sale... )

alfadriver wrote: (which reminds me- I have a BS race car for sale... )

ORLY?

You can also find lots of old race results here.

David S. Wallens wrote:

alfadriver wrote: (which reminds me- I have a BS race car for sale... )

ORLY?

Just a '74 GTV- and while numerically late to the actual TA party, all the sanctioning bodies will allow it to run in BS, since it's the same as a '72 and 73 2000cc GTV.

alfadriver wrote:

David S. Wallens wrote:

alfadriver wrote: (which reminds me- I have a BS race car for sale... )

ORLY?

Just a '74 GTV- and while numerically late to the actual TA party, all the sanctioning bodies will allow it to run in BS, since it's the same as a '72 and 73 2000cc GTV.

Cool. Someone here should put it on track.

In reply to David S. Wallens:

That would be totally awesome for two of us.

alfadriver wrote: In reply to David S. Wallens: That would be totally awesome for two of us.

You can do it!

Also, a little PS to this small-bore Trans-Am chat. When in New York, my cousins and I have been meeting for dinner at Tony Di Napoli, an Italian restaurant. They have a location near my cousin, and since it's family-style, it works well with a group.

The place has a lot of old car photos on the wall, including some big, beautiful black-and-white prints from back in the day. I asked someone there about the photos and was simply told that the owner of the restaurant is into cars or something.

Anyway, I found out that the owner is Herb Wetanson. Not only is he a longtime racer, but he funded the Trans-Am Alfa Romeos back in the day.

See, there's the logo of his old hamburger place:

In reply to David S. Wallens:

At our 2007 Convention here in Detroit, we had a bunch of the former Trans Am cars show off- there's a great Alfa racers shop here in SE MI. They are really neat to see.

So cool cars.

Oh, a PS: Wetson's closed when I was like 5 years old, but dad said that he remembers eating there. He also saw Wetanson regularly race at Bridgehampton.

If anyone is interested in joining this historic racing- https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/open-classifieds/74-alfa-romeo-gtv-race-car/84499/page1/